Paper-web-control device for reel-fed rotary printing-machines.



H. VQ'JAMES. PAPER WEB CONTROL DEVICE FOR REEL FED ROTARY PRINTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- II, 1916.

Patented Dec. 3, L918.

HENRY vrNcEN'r JAMES, or nannnrr, nNeLeNn.

JPEE-WEB-GONTROIL DEVICE FOR REEL-FED ROTARY PRINTING-MACHINES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY VINCENT JAMES,- a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, resident at Cintra, Aldenham avenue, Radlett, Berkshire, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Web-Control Devices for Reel-Fed Rotary Printing-Machines, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

till

one that as the paper reels have consider- This invention has reference to printing presses which are fed with paper from a reel or reels to rotary printing cylinders,

. commonly known as rotary presses, and most generally used for the printing of newsapers and similar products, and it particuarly relates to means for obtaining a substantially constant paper web feed tension to the printing cylinders at all printing speeds of the press, and also means to control the speed of the paper teed reels to prevent overrun in relation tothe press speed in the event of the latter being quickly slowed down and also means to limit the further unwinding of a reel in the event of the paper web breaking.

The type of printing press to which I refer frequently consists of a number of ac tual printing portions forming one complete printing unit, which is fed by a number of paper webs at a time from a corresponding number of paper reels, and it is necessary that each paper web be fed from the reel to the printing cylinders at a feed tension, and that the feed tension of each paper web be maintained approximately constant at all actual printing "speeds, though the required tension of the various paper webs may relatively be widely different Each paper web is gripped between the impression and printing cylinders, and as these latter are rotated by the driving means of the press, the web is pulled into the press from the reels, the latter rotating accordingly. lit will be obv1- able momentum, a tendency occurs for them to overrun'the speed of the press in the event of the latter being quickly slowed down or stopped whether for normal requirements or for reason of a broken paper web, in which event an accumulation vof slack paper would occur, and further, that in the event of the paper web breaking betweenthe-printing cylinders and the folder of thepress, the

Specification of Letters Patent.

ratenteanec. a, rare,

,dpplication filed January 11, 1916. Serial No. 71,451.

tendency is for the paper to accumulate around the printing cylinders with the re-.

sult that a serious jam might occur, materlal would be wasted, and time be lost clearmg 1t,

The usual method employed to obtain paper, web feed tension and prevent overrun 1s the application of a brake to the feed reel, more or less as the feed tension requlred, but as it is frequently necessary to develop only a very light paper web tension on one or more webs, the reel brake to produce same is not always sufficient to prevent overrun, and though automatic devices are fitted on printing presses which will cut 0d the main driving power and bring them to restin the event of the paper breaking, this does not prevent reel overrun.

The object of this invention is to provide meansifor obtainin' a more sensitive control of the paper we feed tension by direct application of the means to the paper web as distinct from the paper reel, and means to prevent reel overrun in the event of the speed of the press being quickly slowed down by the application of a reel brake which will be more or less proportionate in its action to the degree of tendency to overrun, and further, means for application of a heavy brake to the reel in the event of the web breaking under normal printing conditions. For the purpose of obtaining a variable and sensitive paper web feed tension, ll employ a rotatory frictional paper web gripping device which is capable oi retarding thepaper web travel between the reel and the respective printing cylinders, and variable means for braking or retarding the rotation of the paper web gripping device. For the purpose of controlling the speed of the paper feed reel to limit and prevent overrun within negligible quantity, I employ an electro-magneticallv operated or electro-dynamic brake to the feed reel, said brake under normal printing conditions being out of action or in negligible action, means for automatically energizing the bake in the event of the reel overrunning t e press under speed variation of the press and also in the event of the paper-web breaking under normal printing conditions.

it now describe one method of putting the invention into operation 2- For the purpose of paper web tension ll employ two rubber-covered rollers with shafts extended at both ends and mount them llld at a convenient position between {the paper reel and the respective printing cylinders in bearings carried in the press frame sides in such a manner that the roller faces are parallel to the printing cylinders, and apply a variable sprlng tension to bring the roller faces into contactto one or both roller shaft extensions I mechanically couple a variable brake for the purpose of retarding their rotation and likewise the travel of the paper web gripped between them as the paper web is pulled into the press between the print,

ing and impression cylinders, and vary the brake in accordance with the paper web tension required, which tension ill thereby remain approximately constant at all press speeds, and further means for readily throwing the rollers out of contact with one another to facilitate the passing of the paper web between them during press make ready.

For the'purpose of preventing reel overrun within negligible quantity I mount an electro-magnetically operated friction brake on the press frame side in such a manner that it will inclose and when energized operate a brake member fixed to the feed reel spindle, but normally remain out of action, and in a suitable position on the press between the feed reel and the frictional paper web gripping device previously referred to,

l mount a variable ohmic resistance and switch electrically connected in circuit with the winding of the electro-magnetic brake device and an electricity supply circuit, and

mechanically couple the switch to one of a pair of levers. These levers are mounted one on each side of the press and are both rigidly fitted to and partially balanced on a common shaft free to rotate in hearings in the press frame sides. This shaft forms a fulcrum forthe levers. The free ends of the levers are joined by a cross bar or wire normally resting on the taut web of paper between the reeland the paper web gripping device all in such a manner that in the event of the reel overrunning and slack web occur- I 1 ring the levers will fall by gravity from their normal position and so switch electric energy to the electro-magne tic reel brake vdevice, such degree of energy depending on the degree of fall of the levers increasing as the distance, of lever travel tomaximum in the event of a broken web and consequent maximum lever travel or until normal conditions of reel and press speeds are reestablished when the levers are again raised by the taut web to their normal positions and the reel winding of the electro-magnetic reel brake,

and mount a pair of levers with shaft and cross bar similar to those just describedto.

operate this switch and in 'sucha manner that normally the cross bar or Wire will rest .on the taut paper web between the printing cylinders and the folder of the press and hold the switch in the ofi position but in the event of the paper web breaking the levers will fall by gravity and operate the switch to feed maxlmum energy to the electro-magnetic reel brake, and so bring the reel quickly to rest regardless of the press speed.

It is obvious that the reel braking devices should be out of action during the sheeting up and make ready of the press, and for this purpose they may be automatically so switched out of circuit'by interlock with the main driving equipment of the press or otherwise during such process.

This invention is particularly adaptable for use with a magazine feed reel system now frequently used, for the paper web tension device and reel brake switch gear would be automatically common to any reel of the magazine to feed the respective printing cylinders, simple changeover switch gear to the electro-magnetic reel brakemagnets only being necessary.

This method is now further described with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 illustrates a pair of rollers a and I) mounted in frame 0 and held in contact with each other by spring d. The roller 1) is capable of being drawn back against the pressure of the spring by' the cam c with lever f. The spindle of the roller (1 is provided with a brake drum a to receive the brake blocks of the clamp-brake a adjustable by the hand wheel a and its screwed spindle a.

Fig. 2 shows in plan the ends of the rollers illustrated in Fig. 1. v

Fig. 3 illustrates a printing machine diagrammatically in which my invention is embodied.

Fig. 4 shows in plan a form of levers with cross bars or wire.

In these figures the roll of paper 9 is carried by spindle k on which. is a drum 2' with band brake 7'. This brake is operated by solenoid 7c. The paper web Z from the roll g runs over the usual spring roller m and idle rollers 72, n and n to the gripping device a?; which is shown on a larger scale in Fig. 1 and from the gripping device passes to the printing cylinders o and from them in usual manner to the folder (not shown). A switch 9 and variable ohmic resistance 10 are shown. These are controlled by the switch arm 1" which extends from one of the insuaeaeai normal printing conditions and supports the levers s in a position which holds the switch 9 open. If the roll 9 overruns the printing cylinders, the web Z slackens and permits the levers to fall thereby closing the switch and energizing the solenoid which applies the brake j to the drum 1' and stops the overrun, the energy of the solenoid and therefore the brake varies in proportion to the fall of the levers and slackness of the web. The switch a has an arm a and lever to the latter coacts with another lever and these have a Wire or rod resting upon the paper web between the printing cylinders and the folder. If the web between the cylinders and the folder breaks the switch a is closed by the falling of the lever and circuit from the supply mains established to the winding of solenoid 70 resulting in maximum application of the brake.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters lPatent is till 7 ed also to control electric energy supplied to the said brake.

2. In a rotary printing machine having a rotary feed reel and printing cylinders, the combination of a rotary paper web feed retarding device positioned between the feed reel and the printing cylinders for the purpose ot a feed web tension, and an electrically operated brake on the feed; reel spindle normally ofi or in negligible application, and a lever system resting upon the web between the feed reel and the said retarding device and an electric resistance controlled by the lever system, and adapted by the sagging of the web between the feed reel and the retarding device to supply electrical energy to the brake and thus to automatically prevent overrun of the feed reel in relation to the printing cylinders within negligible degree.

3. In a rotary printing machine having a rotary feed reel and printing cylinders, the combination of a rotary paper web feed-retarding device with adjustable braking means positioned between the feed reel and the printing cylinders for the purpose of the required paper web feed tension to the printing cylinders and a mechanical device also positioned between the feed reel and the printing cylinders motion to which is imparted .by a sagging of the paper web from its normal position, and means for applying such motion to a controlling device operating an electrically operated brake acting on the paper web feed reel for the purpose of preventin over-run of the feed roll beyond negligible quantity, in relation to the printing cylinders.

4. In a rotary printing machine having a rotary feed reel and printing cylinders, the combination of a rotary paper web feed retarding device for the purpose of a feed web tension to the printing cylinders, an electrically operated brake capable of application to a brake member on the feed reel spindle but normally ofi during printin conditions, and means to automatically apply electrical energy to the braking means as the feed reel tends to overrun the press when same is slowed down or stopped.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

' HENRYVINCENT J Witnesses:

HENRY FAIRBIR wear H. l). Jameson. 

